Mystery fans may be familiar with Colin Cotterill's popular Dr. Siri series, set in Laos. In 2011, though, Cotterill's Killed at the Whim of a Hat shifted to a new locale, in southern Thailand, and introduced a new detective: Jimm Juree, a woman who had "been one small kidney failure away from becoming the senior crime reporter at the Chiang Mai Mail" and now investigates cooking and dishwashing at her family's desolate Gulf Bay Lovely Resort and Restaurant along with her mother, brother and Grandad Jah.
Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach continues Jimm's story, which she describes as pretty boring until she comes across a severed head on the beach, the face staring "at me with one of those frightening Hallowe'en expressions." Encountering disinterest from officials, she takes it upon herself to find out who the victim is and why he was killed. It soon leads her to what seems to be a vibrant and deadly international slavery ring involving the Burmese immigrant population (an issue which Cotterill also tackled in his first novel, The Night Bastard).
Juree's first-person narration--laced with humor, sardonic asides and whimsy--is a joy to read, while the novel's Asian setting is filled to the brim with her appealing portrayal of intriguing family members and friends. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher